🌞 A Christmas Miracle – December 16 2020

The Lead: The Stimulus Inches Along

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Lawmakers met in-person to resolve final details of the government stimulus package, meant to get us through to the next administration. At the big kids’ table on Tuesday afternoon were Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, as well as their right-hand men Chuck Schumer and Kevin McCarthy.

The $748 billion package is the center of attention, which would include $180 billion in unemployment benefits and $300 billion in small business aid. It also includes aid for airlines, education, and other healthcare programs. The bill is also expected to include money to avoid a government shutdown, which is necessary because last week Congress only passed a one-week funding package to get them through this current week.

Both sides said encouraging words to the press when the meetings were over. And that’s all we’ve really got to go on. Encouraging words.

Deadly Opioids Fine, Morning After Pill Not Fine

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The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to ban women from ordering an abortion-inducing pill through the mail without seeing a doctor. The administration wants women to be required to visit a medical facility first.

The court rejected this ban in October, but that was before the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The administration wants to take another whack at this now that they have a court with a conservative majority.

The case was brought by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that argued that the in-person requirement should be lifted during the pandemic, especially since it was lifted in relation to other prescriptions such as potentially lethal opioids.

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Prison Bachelors

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State prisoners in California can now spend their time behind bars working on their bachelor’s degree through UC Irvine.

Since 2014, California prisoners have been allowed to earn an associate’s degree. This B.A. program is a step further. The inmates do need prerequisite qualifications and a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Only 30 inmates can participate in this pilot program, working towards a B.A. in sociology, but the state plans to roll the program out fully in 2022. Two other state schools are also working on their own degree programs for inmates.

This is not free education. The inmates have to apply for grants or aid, which may be a major deterrent given that a person in prison may not need debt to contend with when they re-enter society. Just a thought. All eyes are on the incoming Biden administration to develop a real plan for free public university for all.

Still, these programs are a good progressive move. A study by the Justice Department shows that inmates who participate in educational opportunities are 40% less likely to return to prison.

News By The Numbers

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50. That is how many kids were exposed to Covid because they took a picture with Santa, who later tested positive. You can avoid this by taking a picture with Virtual Santa with this app.

1,400 years old. That is the approximate age of a mummified corpse that was found in Texas. The man is thought to have died of constipation and ate only grasshoppers in his last days. That’s no way to go.

90,000 Euros. That is the fine imposed on the city of Paris for appointing too many women to senior government positions. In 2018, 69% of appointments were women, in violation of a rule that mandates 40% of these positions go to people of each gender. This law was changed in 2019 but the fine for 2018 still stands.

8%. That is how much the U.S. population grew from the decade between 2010 and 2020. There are now just over 332 million people in the country. This is the smallest amount of population growth since the 1930ss.

Listen, Do You Smell Something?

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Images from NASA shows how the pandemic has changed our planet for the better. Due to lockdown measures, NASA satellite images showed that “the sky seemed a little bluer, the air a little fresher, the animals in our yards more abundant.”

In San Francisco alone, rooftop temperatures were 15 degrees cooler than a year ago. The data and images can be found on NASA’s Covid-19 Dashboard.

Global greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 7% this year from last year due to a major reduction in transportation. NASA will continue to track if and how these changes continue or reset after the pandemic.

You Complete Me

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Okay, we just can’t resist a good Hollywood diva rant. This one comes from Tom Cruise who absolutely freaked out at his crew on the new “Mission: Impossible” set because they were not respecting Covid rules.

An audio recording of the rant was leaked and we are just glad we’re not on the receiving end of it. He lays it out for over 2 expletive-filled minutes.

“We’re creating thousands of jobs, you motherf*ckers!”

He’s got a point. If production is shut down, people less fortunate than Cruise will lose a paycheck and it seems like he really cares about that. Like, really cares. Admittedly, these are bad manners but with good intentions.

The actor has been working to personally ensure production continues after 12 people on the set in Italy tested positive. Since coming to England, he paid £500,000 of his own money to rent a cruise ship for the cast and crew to isolate during production.

Today’s Live Show

Join me at 9 AM EST during the snowstorm to watch our live morning show called Morning Invest. How did we come up with that name? Today on the show we’re bringing you the latest stimulus news, trouble in our nation’s schools, and whether The Federal Reserve creates a $2,000 per month stimulus plan of its own.

Click here to RSVP and set a reminder. See you in a few hours!

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